Who will take home the Oscars?

Ed predicts the winners of Sunday's Awards

The Hollywood Employee Recognition Awards air this Sunday night at 8:30 PM on ABC. Jimmy Kimmel is hosting, so the jokes should be pretty good. Expect to see a handful of winners played off by the orchestra when their acceptance speeches run past the deadline. This will be followed by at least two long comedy bits – one involving an uncomfortable-looking celebrity in the audience — that fall flat while eating up precious time that could have been used by the winners.

We'll also hear several heartfelt speeches by performers convinced their golden oratory will be so stirring that it will cause Donald Trump to resign and turn over control of the nation to Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, or Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

NUVO will list all the nominees online, but we've prepared a selection of the categories you're probably most interested in here.

The best movie I saw in 2016 is Hell or High Water. The action-packed contemporary western/heist story is entertaining, exciting, stirring, and even thought-provoking. I've seen it several times and it holds up beautifully. I predict that, twenty years from now, this is the 2016 film that will be the most celebrated.

It doesn't have a prayer.

Hidden Figures is the biggest hit of the nine nominees. Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea have racked up numerous awards by critics and other groups. But La La Land has mowed down almost everything in its path. Sure, the Screen Actors Guild failed to nominate it for their equivalent of Best Picture. Sure, people are getting tired of the movie winning over and over. But it's a peppy, creative musical about aspiring actors and musicians set in Los Angeles. Most of the Academy members work or live in La La Land and this flick is going to clean up tonight.

I hope Ryan Gosling is practicing his good sport smile, because the La La Land Victory Train is going to briefly jump the track when it comes to his category. Casey Affleck has received a number of awards for his fine work in Manchester by the Sea, but Denzel Washington took the prize in the recent Screen Awards Guild Awards for his big performance in Fences. I think it's going to happen again, making Denzel a two-time Oscar Best Actor winner.

The race here is between the highly respected Isabelle Huppert, who was stunning in Paul Verhoeven's Elle, and Emma Stone, who co-stars in La La Land. Sorry, Isabelle.
Should Win: Isabelle Hubbert
Will Win: Emma Stone

Viola Davis shouldn't be in this category. She gave a lead, not supporting, performance. If she'd been in the Best Actress category I think she would have beat Emma Stone. But they didn't, and she's in this category, and she will win it.
Should Win/Will Win: Viola Davis

Barry Jenkins took pain and made poetry in Moonlight and this would be the perfect spot to thank him and apologize for passing his film over for La La Land. If he wins, get ready for a possible Best Picture upset. That won't happen, though, and Damien Chazelle will receive another trophy for his crowded mantel-place.
Should Win: Barry Jenkins
Will Win: Damien Chazelle

Have you SEEN The Lobster? Despite losing air towards the end, the film puts the “original” back into “Best Original Screenplay. It's not going to win, though, and my cherished Hell or High Water is out of luck too. I think Manchester by the Sea will get its reward here, unless the La La Land streak is even bigger than I anticipate.

Should Win: The Lobster
Will Win: Manchester by the Sea

Best Animated Feature:Kubo and the Two Strings, Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner; Moana, John Musker, Ron Clements and Osnat Shurer; My Life as a Zucchini, Claude Barras and Max Karli; The Red Turtle, Michael Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki; Zootopia, Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer

Kubo and the Two Strings is a dark horse contender, but the detailed cityscapes of Disney's Zootopia will prevail.

OJ: Made in America is outstanding, but the eight hour documentary was produced by ESPN for its TV series 30 for 30, where it aired to great acclaim. Yes, it played at Sundance. Yes, it played briefly in theaters in New York and L.A. to qualify for Oscar contention, but I maintain that it's a TV show and does not belong here. Want to argue the point? Get back to me after you spend 8 hours in a theater watching a movie.

Should Win: Not OJ: Made in America
Will Win: OJ: Made in America, resoundingly

Toni Erdmann is well liked, and the fact that a big budget American remake of it is in the works could influence voters, but filmmaker Asghar Farhadi (A Separation) is so well respected that his drama The Salesman will take the trophy.

The war scenes in Hacksaw Ridge were expertly assembled, and the action scenes in Hell or High Water were exciting and easy to follow visually, but the editing of the musical numbers in La La Land will earn it another win.
Should Win: Hell or High Water
Will Win: La La Land

Best Original Song:
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” from La La Land - Music by Justin Hurwitz; lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
“Can’t Stop the Feeling,” from Trolls - Music and lyrics by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster
“City of Stars,” from La La Land - Music by Justin Hurwitz; lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
“The Empty Chair,” from Jim: The James Foley Story - Music and lyrics by J. Ralph and Sting
“How Far I’ll Go,” from Moana - Music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda